Trash and garbage disposal apparatus including mobile unit

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a trash and garbage disposal apparatus and method. The apparatus may be stationary, for treatment of disposal material brought to such apparatus, or the apparatus may be mobile to be truck mounted and to operate on trash and garbage as collected, and while in transit. In either case, the garbage, and trash, as combustible material, are fed into a continuously operating furnace, where they are burned. Any resulting ash is accumulated. The products of combustion, from the burning operation of the garbage are picked up and entrained in a stream of air through this furnace and they are then fed into an aqueous filter solution, in which those products of combustion are absorbed, and recovered, and the clean air freed to go back into the atmosphere. Quantities of the saturated filter solution may be periodically withdrawn and mixed in with quantities of accumulated ash, or alternatively, the resulting saturated solution is periodically dried into cake, which is added to and mixed with the accumulated ash. The mixture, by either method, is then sacked, as a soil nutrient mix, later to be sold to nurseries, farmers and other users of fertilizer. This filter solution exemplified herein, is an alkaline solution. Glass bottles, tin cans and metal, as noncombustibles, are conveyed to a set of twin crushing rollers where the glass is crushed and broken and dropped into a receiving bin, while the tin cans and metal are flattened and delivered to a transport system, which may include a magnetic unit for separation. The tin cans are then discharged into an automatic press and compressed into bales. Before being compressed and baled, the tin cans will have been passed through a flame furnace to burn off any labels or adhering food particles, and the products of combustion recovered as previously explained.

United States Patent [72] inventor Steele D. Williams l8 N. SeminoleDrive, Chattanooga, Tenn. 3741 l [21] Appl. No. 820,135

[22] Filed Apr. 29, 1969 [45] Patented Aug.3l,l97l

[S4] TRASH AND GARBAGE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Primary Examiner-Kenneth W.Sprague Att0rneyJulius E. Foster ABSTRACT: This invention relates to atrash and garbage disposal apparatus and method. The apparatus may bestationary, for treatment of disposal material brought to suchapparatus, or the apparatus may be mobile to be truck mounted and tooperate on trash and garbage as collected, and while in transit. Ineither case, the garbage, and trash, as combustible material, are fedinto a continuously operating furnace, where they are burned. Anyresulting ash is accumulated. The, products of combustion, from theburning operation of the garbage are picked up and entrained in a streamof air through this furnace and they are then fed into an aqueous filtersolution, in which those products of combustion are absorbed, andrecovered, and the clean air freed to go back into the atmosphere.

Quantities of the saturated filter solution may be periodicallywithdrawn and mixed in with quantities of accumulated ash, oralternatively, the resulting saturated solution is periodically driedinto cake, which is added to and mixed with the accumulated ash. Themixture, by either method, is then sacked, as a soil nutrient mix, laterto be sold to nurseries, farmers and other users of fertilizer. Thisfilter solution exemplified herein, is an alkaline solution.

Glass bottles, tin cans and metal, as noncombustibles, are conveyed to aset of twin crushing rollers where the glass is crushed and broken anddropped into a receiving bin, while the tin cans and metal are flattenedand delivered to a transport system, which may include a magnetic unitfor separation. The tin cans are then discharged into an automatic pressand compressed into bales. Before being compressed and baled, the tincans will have been passed through a flame furnace to burn off anylabels or adhering food particles, and the products of combustionrecovered as previously explained.

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PATENTEU mm I971 3,602,162

SHEET 8 [IF 4 STEELE [WILLIAMS INVENTOR.

TRASH AND GARBAGE DISPOSAL APPARATUS INCLUDING MOBILE UNIT Thisinvention relates to a trash and garbage disposal method and apparatuswhich may be constructed and arranged to serve as a stationary apparatusor as a mobile unit for treating trash and garbage in transit ascollected.

One of the most serious problems confronting people all over the worldis the disposal of trash and garbage. In the United States, the methodsnow used are causing air and water pollution, and, by use of land dumps,are using thousands of acres of valuable land needed for other purposes,and which are creating health hazards by breeding rats.

The present invention is directed to apparatus and to procedure fortreating garbage and trash in a manner that avoids air and waterpollution, and that does not destroy the usefulness of large groundacreage, and that does not attract and stimulate the breeding of ratsand vermin.

The present invention does incinerate garbage and trash, but does sowith novel apparatus and process, which recovers the ingredients in thefumes or products of combustion, and accumulates any residue ash, andtreats them in combination to make those ingredients available for useas soil nutrients. The herein method of recovery of the ingredients fromthe products of combustion prevents pollution of the ambient atmosphere,such as now results from conventional burning or incineration.

In the invention herein, the matter to be incinerated is fed into afurnace and burned with a high-temperature flame. The gaseous productsof combustion are filtered to remove and recover oxidation products andundesirable air pollutants. For that operation, a stream of air ispassed through the furnace to entrain the gaseous products of combustionand any unburned, free floating particles, and the airstream andcontents is then directed and forced through an aqueous alkalinesolution which traps and filters out those oxidation products and freeparticles, and releases the cleansed air to the ambient atmosphere.

Where the operation indicates the need for further cleansing of the airreleased from the filter bath, the air may be further treated bytransmission through a second similar bath, or through other type offilter, in sequence operations.

The noncombustible products are collected as residue ash, or as glassand metal accumulations.

The bath solution, or batches of the solution, may be periodicallyremoved and treated, by drying, with or without heat, to recoverthesolution residue, after evaporation of moisture. Such solutionresidue contains recovered byproducts of combustion, and is mixed withthe residue ash for subsequent use as soil nutrient materials.

Where the trash content includes noncombustibles, such as bottles andcans, the bottles are crushed and the broken glass collected forappropriate washing and cleaning and thus reclaimed as cullet," acommercial byproduct for use in glass-making furnaces.

The tin cans are fire cleaned to remove labels and adhering foodparticles, and then accumulated in successive weighted batches, and thencompressed into small bales for convenient subsequent handling.

The invention herein is shown in two modifications.

In one modification, the garbage and the trash are externally separatedand then separately introduced into the apparatus, and separatelyprocessed through the apparatus, but with common fume-collecting andfiltering equipment.

In a second modification, the garbage and the trash are all introducedtogether in one place and processed through the furnace and burningoperation to separate the combustibles and the noncombustibles, and theproducts then separately treated.

In the first modification, the garbage and trash are shredded andair-mixed for optimum combustion; then fed into a hightemperature flamefurnace, from which the gaseous products are collected and filtered, aspreviously mentioned, while the residue ash is. collected and latermixed with the filtered residue for later'use as soil nutrients. At thesame time, the glass bottles and tin cans are separately treated; theglass bottles are crushed and the broken glass collected for subsequentwashing and use as cullet," and the tin cans are appropriately burned toclean off the adhering paper labels, adhering food particles and othercovering films, and then the cans are collected and compressed intobales for convenient handling.

In the second modification, the garbageand the trash, including thebottles and tin cans, are first subjected to a coarse primary crusher,which cracks the bottles, partially compresses the tin cans, and shredsthe garbage. Everything is then fed into the furnace for burning. Thecombustibles go out as gaseous fumes and products of combustion. A gratein the furnace pivotally opens to dump any broken glass, the bottles andtin cans, and residue ash from the combustibles, onto a shaker screen,which passes the residue ash and conveys the broken glass, thebottlesand the tin cans to a conveyor to a pair of breakup rolls. There theglass and the bottles are further broken into small pieces and droppedinto a cullet basket, while the tin cans are led to a baling compressor,where the cans are weighed and compressed into sequential bales foreasier handling.

In both modifications, the gaseous byproducts permit recovery of soilnutrients from the garbage, and the collected glass provides a source ofcullet, and the tin cans are made available for processing for metalrecovery. In the meantime, all such treatment and processing of thegarbage and trash has been accomplished without polluting theatmosphere, and without providing food supply attractions for rats andvermin.

The apparatus and the method disclosed herein may, naturally, beemployed for a stationary installation.

A special feature of this invention is that the apparatus may bemounted, on a truck for mobility.

One object of this invention is to provide a method of and an apparatusfor disposing of garbage and trash, that will eliminate those problemsand hazards of recent conventional garbage disposal procedures.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method of and anapparatus for treating garbage and trash to recover as much as possibleof the ingredients for reuse as soil nutrients.

Another object of this invention is to provide a trash and garbagecollection and disposal apparatus and method of operation that willpermit operation on a mobile truck, and that would eliminate thenecessity of hauling refuse to a centralized location, for burying, orfor burning in a conventional incinerator, the operation of which is ahealth hazard and contributes to air pollution.

Another object of this invention is to provide a unit for collectingtrash and garbage, that is, mobile, and that is equipped to incineratethe combustible elements of collected trash and garbage, and that servesto filter out and trap gaseous products of combustion that would be airpollutants if freely released; and that serves to conserve such productsof combustion for reuse as soil nutrients; and that, in the course ofsuch operation, operates to separate out noncombustible elements intometal and nonmetal collections for separate and different kinds ofsubsequent treatment for disposal.

Another object of this invention is to provide a mobile unit for thepurpose of collecting and treating trash and garbage, and whichtransports sufficient fuel in an approved tank to service the needs ofrequired burners and the operations of engines of sufficient capacity tooperate all mechanical components for treating the trash and garbage insuch mobile unit.

Another object of this invention is to provide a mobile trash andgarbage collection unit in which the combustible material in the garbageor trash is burned in a specially designed combustion chamber by theheat blast from a burner in which a suitable fuel such as kerosene,gasoline or propane may be used, and any resulting ash residueaccumulated for other use. The same fuel in a similar burner may be usedto preliminarily burn the labels, coating and food particles from tincans,

where they are separately treated, after which they are pressed intobales.

An advantageous feature of my invention is that all fuel supply lines tothe burners can be closed when the heat blast in not required, therebyconserving fuel consumption.

Another object of my invention is to provide a means and method ofeliminating air pollution such as is caused by conventional methods ofburning trash and garbage at local dumps or by using incinerators.

Another object of my invention is to prevent further contribution to thetrash and garbage dumps which are breeding places for rats and othervermin, which are carriers of disease and impair the health of theneighboring populace.

Another object of my invention is to provide mobile means for collectingtrash and garbage in populated areas of cities, town and counties in amanner which requires fewer employees than the method now in use. Thiswill also result in greatly reducing the initial investment in trash andgarbage collection trucks, as fewer trucks will be needed.

A further object of my invention is to provide a mobile means ofcollecting trash and garbage from door to door, and immediately burningthe combustible material while en route, absorbing the fumes therefromin an aqueous solution, mixing the dried sludge therefrom with the ashesfrom the burned trash and garbage, automatically weighing and sackingthis mixture, and sealing the sacks. This material is beneficial asfertilizer in promoting growth to plants, grass and produce.

In the operation of the system of the herein described method of usingsuch a mobile trash garbage collection unit, it is understood that thesacked ashes, the crushed glass, and the baled tin cans, will have to beremoved from the mobile unit periodically, which may be sufiicient ifdone at the end of the daily operation, or which may be done morefrequently, if necessary.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent, andthe construction of the apparatus and the manner of operation of bothmodifications will be more fully explained in, and better understoodfrom, the following description taken together with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal elevational view of one side of theunit, right-hand as viewed from the rear, with outside panel removed,showing the equipment components used, from front to rear, in theprocessing and reduction of trash and garbage by burning and recoveringthe products of combustion;

FIG. 2 is a composite and schematic top view, with the roof removed fromthe housing of a mobile disposal unit, showing the location of thevarious pieces of equipment as components in the assembly and used inthe operation of one modification of a mobile trash and garbage disposalunit which embodies this invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic longitudinal elevational view, generally alongline 2-3 of FIG. 2, and shows the components along the left-hand side ofthe unit considered from the rear, showing the various components of theequipment for performing the sequential steps in the processing of glassbottles and tin cans;

FIG. 4 is a schematic rear view of the unit housing, showing thelocations of hinged doors covering openings for a large scrap bin, for afuel tank, and for a dump space for receiving bottles and tin cans asthey are collected from door to door;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the right-hand side of the outer panelof the housing showing the hinged chute which receives the trash andgarbage as it is collected from door to door and fed to n mobile machinefor processing;

FIG. 6 is a front end elevational view of the outer panel of thehousing, showing a hinged door of sufficient size to permit each pieceof equipment to be moved into the housing of the unit, where it can beproperly installed. The door opening also provides easy access to allequipment for inspection and main tenance, and for removing the sackedashes and the baled tin cans from the interior of the housing.

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow view, similar to FIG. 2, and showing thearrangement of the elements of a second modification of the invention,wherein all garbage and trash are fed into the furnace, from whichnoncombustibles glass bottles and tin cans are delivered by a bottomscreen and conveyor to the crushing rolls and baling compressor.

FIG. 8 is a schematic elevational view, similar to FIG. 3, and shows howthe screen below the furnace brings the'noncombustibles into the bin forthe noncombustible conveyor;

FIG. 9 is a schematic functional perspective of the elements of thesystem, to emphasize the details of the filter; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic functional perspective of the elements of theglass and tin can handling components, to emphasize the arrangement forbaling the cans.

FIG. l-A is a schematic view of the input port ring, with the airstrearncurtain.

The equipment involved herein for treating garbage and trash may, ofcourse, be readily disposed in a stationary installation. A particularfeature and advantage of this invention is that the equipment can bearranged and combined as mobile equipment in a housing for dispositionon a truck, within the practical dimensional limits of currentconventional sanitation trucks.

Considering the housing structure, for the present, to be removed toexpose the equipment, as shown schematically and functionally in FIGS.1, 2 and 3, the equipment for the treatment of garbage and combustibletrash is first considered. In FIG. 5, a hinged charging chute 22 isshown in open posi tion, ready to receive garbage or trash. FIG. 1 thenshows the view with the panel of FIG. 5 removed to expose the mechanismand operating components for treating the garbage or trash introducedthrough the charging chute 22 of FIG. 5.

For the present, for the first modification of the invention, it will beconsidered that all refuse to be collected and treated by the mobileunit will have been separated into two classifications, first, acollection of combustible garbage and trash; and, second, a collectionof bottles and tin cans and the like; while other large items such asdiscarded furniture, can be carried away on platforms over the wheels atboth ends of the collection truck. In the second modification, thegarbage and bottles and cans are handled without prior separation.

The disposal equipment of this invention, in the first modification, isintended for handling articles in the first two of thoseclassifications, namely, garbage and combustible trash in one grouping,and bottles and tin cans in a second grouping.

The manner in which the garbage and combustible trash is handled in theapparatus herein will now be considered first.

For convenience, and simplicity of reference, the garbage andcombustible trash material will all be referred to in this followingdescription as garbage.

When collected garbage is dumped into the chute 22, shown in FIG. 5, theaction proceeds as shown in FIG. 1. The garbage drops down onto a pairof cooperating shredding rolls 24, whose function is to shred thegarbage and combustibles into reduced and comminuted pieces, looselypacked with commingled air, so they will be more fully and completelyaccessible to a burning flame, and so that such shredded and comminutedmaterial can be entirely burned by an applied flame without thegeneration of black noxious fumes such as result from the failure ofaccess of sufficient oxygen to permit proper and complete burning.

The function of the shredding roll structure 24, in addition toshredding the garbage material, is to move the shredded garbage forwardaxially along the space in the roller compartment 25. to a path wherethe garbage will be picked up by shelves or blades 27 of the verticalconveyor 26, which serves to raise the garbage from the lower region toan elevated region from which the garbage may be directed and fed intoand through an inlet port 28 of the flametype furnace 30, in which thegarbage and other included combustible materials will be burned. A topburner 32 directs a gas flame down onto the pile of garbage, which fallsfrom the input port 28 by gravity down into the pit of the furnace andonto grate bars 34 where the garbage is supported until burned. Unbumedresidue ash from the garbage is then permitted to. fall through twounder doors 36 onto a shaker screen 38. The shaker screen 38 serves tosift the ash to permit the ash to fall as a loose powder into a suitablecontainer in lower compartment 40, and such screen also serves as avibrating conveyor to move pieces of noncombustible material to theouter end of the shaker screen for removal after accumulation.

Gravity alone may be relied on to feed the garbage into the furnace. Afeature of this operation, however, is to utilize an airstream for onefunction as a propelling medium for the garbage. The airstream is alsoutilized as a source of oxygen, and also serves as a carrier for thefumes or products of combustion to remove the fumes from the furnace. Bydistributing the incoming airstream over the area of the inlet port, thefumes generated in the furnace are prevented from moving outward throughsaid inlet port 28.

To further assure that none of the fumes will exit through the inletport 28, a separate air curtain is shown provided by means of an inletport ring 52 provided with perforations 54 directed radially inward,partially axially inward, as indicated by the arrow 56, to provide aninward pressure area at inlet port 28.

This arrangement provides a carefree structure for the inlet port, andfreer movement for the garbage than a pivoted closure door over theinlet port would permit.

In order to prevent the fumes as generated by the burning garbage, frompolluting the atmosphere, the fumes are entrained in the input airstreamand are drawn out from the furnace through an outlet port 41 and conduit42 by an exhaust blower 44, indicated schematically, and then theairstream and fumes are directed through the continuing conduit 42 intoan aqueous alkaline bath 46, in which the pollutant ingredients in theentrained fumes of the products of combustion are absorbed in the bathand the stream of cleaned air is permitted to percolate out through thebath into the atmosphere.

Gas for the burning flame is carried in a tank 48 and is fed to theburner 32 at the top of the furnace 30 through a pipe 50, underpressure. The gas is mixed with a stream of air from a blower 51. Theexhaust draft created by the exhaust blower 44 in the exhaust conduit 42will be made sufficient to create a draft gradient from any furnaceopening, this including particularly the inlet port 28 and the gratestructure, toward the exhaust outlet 42, that will insure againstunwanted and undesirable seepage of the fumes out of the furnace 30 intothe atmosphere.

The air pressure for the inlet ring 52 at the inlet port 28 may beprovided through a conduit 58, connected to a blower 51 that alsosupplies the air pressure for the airstream into and through thefurnace, and also supplies the gas from the main tank 48 to the flameburner 32 at the top of the furnace 30.

The same source of air pressure from blower 51 and its connectingconduit 58 may be supplied to a nozzle 60 to blow the garbage, inbatches, from the shelves or plates 27 of the vertical conveyor 26 intothe inlet port 28 at the top of the furnace.

The burning of the garbage and the combustible trash produces the twobyproducts that must be disposed of, first, the fumes, and second, theash.

The fumes from the furnace are exhausted by entrainment in the airstreamthat enters inlet port 28, and then are directed through the aqueoussolution 46, which is essentially a thin lime sludge. The obnoxiousbyproducts in the fumes are absorbed by the sludge and the relativelyclean air of the stream is then permitted to bubble out through thesludge, for further treatment before being released back into theatmosphere, as explained below. At the same time, the ash that isproduced from the burned garbage and trash is caught on the shakerscreen 38 and sifted so that only relatively fine or powdery ash issifted down into the collecting compartment 40, into a suitablecontainer, for further treatment to be made with the addition ofrecognized additives into a useful commercial byproduct, as afertilizer. V

In order to put the ash in better condition for handling, it ispermitted to accumulate in one or more boxes, as it sifts down throughthe sifting shaker screen 38. One such box 64 is indicated schematicallyin FIG. 1, positioned below the shaker screen 38 to receive the siftedash that drops through the screen. In the subsequent process of treatingthe ash for use, some of the aqueous solution from the lime slurry, whensaturated by the fumes, is taken from the bath 46 and dried, and thencombined with the ash, and further mixed, with the addition of otherappropriate ingredients, as may be desired.

Thus, by the treatment thus far described, collected garbage andcombustible rubbish or trash are burned and essentially disposed of on adisposal truck unit in a manner that recovers the ingredients of thegarbage and trash combustibles and converts those ingredients to a formsuitable for reuse, without attracting rodents and bugs, and creatinggrowth of injurious bacteria as an ordinary garbage dump would do. Thosecombustion byproducts which would be pollutants if pennitted to escapeinto the atmosphere, are thus trapped and converted into a useable formwhich can be handled as a commercial article of commerce.

By treating the garbage and the rubbish in the manner herein described,the procedure is one that handles relatively small quantitiescontinuously and is therefore free of controls and conditions that arisewhen large accumulations of garbage and rubbish are made at onelocation, when the burning operation is kept up continuously and withoutregard to safeguards against air pollution, while at the same time thevery large accumulation of garbage and rubbish in such a dumpconventionally would attract rodents and bugs, and would enable them toproliferate and harass the surrounding community.

While one part of the apparatus is operating on the garbage andcombustible trash, the other part of the apparatus can be operating onthe normally noncombustible items, such as glass bottles and tin cans.

The manner in which the operation is performed on the noncombustibleswill be better understood upon reference to the components of theapparatus shown in the upper part of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, which latterfigure shows a schematic elevation.

As shown schematically in FIGS. 2 and 3, the left hand rear side of thedisposal unit is provided with a chute that leads to, and serves also aspart of, a receptacle 101 for receiving noncombustibles, such as glassbottles and tin cans. Here again, a vertical conveyor 102 is provided toraise bottles and tin cans from a lower region, in the receptacle 101,to an elevated region at which gravity will deliver those items fromconveyor 102 to a pair of crushing rolls 104, which serve to break theglass bottles and to partially flatten the tin cans.

The glass from the broken glass bottles falls into a bin 106 where theglass is accumulated for subsequent removal and washing, to be availableas commercial cullet for sale to glassmaking companies.

The tins, after passing through the crushing rolls 104, where they arepartially flattened, move across an open grating 108 into and through atire box 110, where they are subjected to flames from burners 112, toremove by burning, any labels, coating or food particles which may beadhered to the tin cans while being handled and treated.

The openwork grating 108 is such as to permit the glass to fall throughinto the bin 106, below, while guiding the partially flattened cans intothe fire box 110, past a pendulously pivoted door 111, that normallycloses the upper end of the firebox.

After passing through the firebox 110, the tins continue their forwardmovement by gravity onto a chain conveyor 1 14 by which the tins aredirected downward into a baling area 116. When a predetermined weight ofthe tins is accumulated, a set of hydraulic rams 118A, 1188 and 118C areactuated to compress the tins into a bale of approximately predetenninedsize and weight, which can be conveniently handled. The bale is thentransferred into an adjoining storage space 120, until removal at theend of the operating interval of the unit.

The fumes generated in the firebox by the burning of any of thematerials adhering to the tin cans, are treated and absorbed andcollected as were the fumes generated in connection with the burning ofthe garbage. A suitable exhaust conduit 124 is connected from firebox110 to the main exhaust conduit 42 shown in FIG. 1 and the exhaustblower 44 serves to pull a stream of air through the firebox 110, also,to entrain the fumes of the products of combustion in the firebox and todirect those fumes also into the alkaline sludge bath 46, for removal ofthe pollutants and release of the clean, normal air.

In the first modification of the system as disclosed herein, the twoinputs have been kept separate. That is, the garbage and burnable trashhave been introduced as one input to be fed directly to the furnace,after comminution, whereas the nonburnable items, such as the glassbottles and tin cans, are fed in as a separate input. From there, theglass bottles are broken and the glass collected for use as commercialcullet for glassmaking tanks, and the tin cans are delivered to asuitable area in which the cans are collected into batches of somepredetermined weight and then compressed into bales small enough to beconveniently handled. I

In the case of stationary apparatus, no excessive problem of space isinvolved in collecting tin cans. In the case of a mobile apparatus,however, a small, powerful press is provided in the collecting region ofthe tin cans, which serves to compress and bale the tin cans so theywill take up relatively small space, which will permit the mobileapparatus to accumulate a substantial amount of rubbish before requiringa trip to a transferring station.

The second modification utilizes all of the components that have beendescribed in connection with the first modification, the differencebeing in the sequence of operations and in the manner of feeding thegarbage and rubbish into the apparatus.

The operation according to the second modification accepts all of thegarbage and rubbish at one input station, so no preliminary separatingoperation is necessary to separate the garbage from the noncombustiblematerials, such as the glass bottles and the tin cans. By thuspermitting all the rubbish to be thrown in to the one receiving unit asat chute 22 in FIG. 5, the operation of the apparatus is more flexibleand not dependent upon prior separation of the rubbish into separatecategories.

In this second type of operation, the shredder rolls 24, shown in FIG.1, are replaced by coarse primary crushers 24a which will accept garbageand other combustible materials and will also serve to break the bottlesand provide at least preliminary flattening of the tin cans.

In this second modification, everything as rubbish is then fed from theprimary crusher rolls 24a to the vertical conveyor 26, and the rubbishis then raised to the elevated position to be dumped into the furnace 30through the inlet port 28.

The details of the furnace shell structure are not entirely indicated,but include a steel metallic housing with internal fire brick andsuitable external insulation on the furnace shell and on the relatedconnected structures and piping or conduits to limit the heattransference and conductance to adjoining parts of the apparatus, andparticularly to prevent or, at least limit, the transfer of heat tobearing surfaces for the various motive units that will be employed tooperate transfer equipment, such as, for example, the conveyor, androtating equipment, such as the rolls and motors for the air pressureand vacuum pumps. To the maximum extent possible, all of the motiveequipment utilizing bearings will be located near the outer walls ordoors of the main housing to receive the benefit of the cooling effectof ambient air; and connecting conduits and operating shafts will beappropriately located to transfer air or mechanical energy or the likefrom the motive devices to those parts that must necessarily be locatedcloser to the furnace.

In the case of this second modification, all of the glass bottlesintroduced in the general batches of rubbish will generally be brokeninto pieces that can very readily be mixed in with the garbage and othercombustible material that will go into the furnace.

The bottom of the furnace 30 is shown provided with a suitable grillwork 34 with one pair or more of pivoted trap doors 36 underneath, whichmay be automatically opened by any standard means to permit the glassand tins to be discharged onto a vibrating screen 38.

The doors 36 may be normally in upper closing position, so thatnoncombustible materials, such as the glass and tin cans and other metalor noncombustible parts, will accumulate at the bottom of the furnace 30while the garbage and other combustible material is being burned and thefumes drawn off, as previously explained, in the same manner as in thefirst modification.

In this operation of the second modification, the pivoted trap doors 36at the bottom of the furnace may be periodically opened to permitaccumulated noncombustibles, like the accumulated glass and tin cans, tofall through onto the screen 38, as previously described. The particlesof ash that drop through from the furnace onto the screen 38 will bethere sifted by the screen and fall into the container 64, as previouslydescribed. However, the mesh of the screen may be such as to prevent theusual glass pieces from falling through, and the vibrating screen 38will transport those glass pieces and the tin cans on the screen 38towards the other end of the screen, which in this case, dumps the glasspieces and the tin cans into the compartment 101, shown in FIG. 8,instead of merely transporting those items to the end of the screen andthere accumulating them in a space from which they may be removed at theend of the days operation, which was the method previously describedwhen the apparatus was to be operated in accordance with the firstmodification.

In this second modification, the noncombustibles, such as the tin cansand glass, that are conveyed from the screen 38 into the compartment101, are similarly raised by the inclined vertical conveyor 102, as wasdone in the first modification, except that now, the glass pieces andtin cans are supplied to the pressure rollers 104, which serve nowmainly to separate the glass and the tin cans. The rolls further breakup any larger pieces of glass from the bottles, with suitableintermeshing lugs on the two rolls, and serve also to preliminarilycrush the tin cans passing through the rolls.

In order further to separate the broken glass from the tin cans, theopenwork grill 108, previously described, has sufficiently largeopenings to permit the glass pieces to fall through, while providing arelatively planar openwork structure that serves as a transfer plate topermit the tin cans to slide across onto the equivalent belt conveyor114, previously described, and then to slide down into the compartment116, in which the cans may be compressed and baled.

All of the components of the apparatus are essentially the same for bothmodifications, as described. The flexibility of the system is such,however, that where the garbage is separated from the noncombustiblesbeforehand, the garbage and combustible materials may be fed directlyinto the furnace, and the noncombustibles may be supplied to that partof the equipment which can be used to separate the glass from the tincans, en route to the compression or baling chamber 1 16 where the tincans are baled.

The basic feature of the invention, in both modifications, is theprocedure for treating the products of combustion, to remove them fromthe airstream as pollutants, and to recover them as mineral ingredientsfor use in the manufacture of fertilizers and soil nutrients. Theburning of such garbage and trash without removing the products ofcombustion from the airstream, would be merely to fill the air withpoisonous pollutants. Thus, the basic feature of the invention is toprovide a self-cleansing disposal system, and for such system to providea filter and a method of operating the filter that will remove thepollutants from the airstream through the furnace in such a way as toremove the obnoxious products of combustion, and actually to recover theingredients of those products of combustion to make them available forreuse, as soil nutrients and reintroduction into the natural triangle ofmineral, vegetable and animal elements.

The arrangement of the elements shown in FIG. 1 are shown schematicallyarranged, in more detail in FIG. 9, in order to show the filter 46enlarged and in more detail.

In FIG. 1 the filter 45 for cleansing the airstream and fumes from thefurnace is illustrated as functioning through the use of a liquid bathprimarily. As shown in more detail in FIG. 9, a filter 45 comprises atank 45-A containing the bath solution 46, a Venturi neck 45-B, a fiberglass packed filter 45-C and an exit stack 45-D.

The bath solution 46 is made up of a sludge of phosphate rock andlimestone with sufficient water to form a thin, runny sludge. Just underthe top level of the sludge solution 46, a grill 132 is supported onbrackets 134, in turn, to support a closely packed layer of rocks ofchemical materials that would serve as soil feeders, or fertilizer, suchas, for example, aluminurn oxide, lime, phosphate rock, or the like. Onefunction of these rocks is to act as bubble breakers. When theairstream, with the furnace fumes, is forced into the tank 45-A at thebottom, the airstream percolates up through the sludge as bubbles. Theproducts of combustion entrained in the airstream are absorbed by thesludge and thus removed from the airstream, whichthen normally movesupward out of the sludge in bubble form. However, the films that enclosethe air bubbles include some of the sludge material in liquid form, orsome of the gases absorbed from the combustion byproducts. If thesebubbles were permitted to continue out into the atmosphere, the bubbleswould carry with them a great 'deal of combustion byproducts which it isdesired to remove from the airstream and keep out of the atmosphere. Bybreaking such bubbles, the material of the film is returned to thesludge solution and the air that was enclosed in the bubble is permittedto proceed upward towards escape, but is nevertheless again mechanicallyscrubbed in its exiting movement. One scrubbing is accomplished on therough surfaces of the rock 136 covering the entire top area above thegrill 132.

Thus the function of the grill 132 and its top layer of rock 136 isfirst to break the bubbles to retrieve what liquid matter may be in thefilm enclosing each bubble, and, second, the function is to furtherscrub the released stream of air from the bubble to further retrieve anymoisture content that is contained in even that small quantity of airwith the bubble.

The airstream that percolates up through the first layer of rock 136 isadditionally treated, to insure optimum and maximum removal of thefumous ingredients of the airstream.

The airstream may be directed to pass through more than one sludge bathin order to assure progressive elimination of the mineral ingredients inthe airstream by absorption in those sludge baths. Various filteringarrangements may be utilized. For the purpose of the presentarrangement, a second superposed layer 140, of phosphate rock,limestone, aluminum oxide and similar materials that have fertilizingingredients, is provided to serve as a second cleansing layer to providea labyrinthian path for the airstream to assure maximum contact betweenthe airstream and the rock materials for the cleansing action. Anymoisture content in the airstream after it has percolated through thefirst sludge bath will be adsorbed and absorbed by the second or upperlayer 140 of rock material to further remove any moisture content of theairstream as it moves upward.

Moreover, any continuing smaller bubbles carried out of the sludge bythe moving airstream will be engaged and scrubbed by the rocks on upperlayer 140, to further retrieve any small quantities of materialscontained in the films surrounding those smaller bubbles.

It should be noted that the airstream, as exhausted from the furnace,will be at an elevated temperature, generally above the boiling point ofwater, so that the stream feeding into the slush tank will have asufficient content of moisture in it to assure the liquid condition ofthe slush. Moreover, the high ternperature of the slush, and of theairstream and its constituents, will contribute to the chemical actionbetween the fumous contents of the airstream and the material in theslush and in the rock layer at the top of the slush and in theadditional ,upper rock layer in .the air above the slush.

The conduit from the furnace to the slush tank, and the slush tank andthe related elements of the filter are appropriately insulated toprevent undesirable dissipation of heat to the adjacent mechanism, butalso, and primarily, to retain the heat to promote appropriate chemicalreaction between the slush and cleansing rock on the one hand, and theingredients of the airstream as it passes through, on the other hand.

After the airstream passes through the upper layer of rock 140, theairstream is directed through a Venturi neck 144, having a shortcompression chamber within a converging annular wall 146, and through anexpansion chamber within a diverging annular wall 148, in order that thesequential compression and decompression of the moving airstream willprovide a further mechanical distension and breakage of any air bubblesstill entrained in the airstream.

For a final cleansing of the airstream before it is released to theatmosphere, a final shell filter is provided including a plurality oftubes 152 supported vertically in spaced relation between a floor plate153 and a ceiling plate 155. The tubes 152 are open at their bottom ends154 to communicate with holes 156 in the floor plate 153. The tubes 152are closed at their upper ends 160 against the ceiling plate 155. Eachtube has a large number of perforations 162 in the sidewalls, to permitthe airstream entering through bottom entrance ports 154 to move throughthe perforations 162, and then through matted fibrous packing of fiberglass mats that are fully packed around the tubes 152 and profuselyembedded with large quantities of carbon granules 163, to providefurther mechanical scrubbing and cleansing action of the airstream, asit passes through the perforations 162 and through the fiber glass matsand proceeds to and through exit ports 164 in the ceiling plate 166 ofthe filter 150, through an exit stack 170 to the atmosphere.

The shell filter 150 may be periodically washed. For that purpose theshell filter 150 may be removed from the Venturi neck 45-B and a waterstream suitably introduced through any of the top openings 164 in theceiling plate 166 and the water stream permitted to flush out anyunwanted materials entrapped in the fiber glass or in the carbongranules, by flowing through such filtering material and exiting outthrough the bottom holes of the tubes 152. That filter shell may then besubjected to a heating and drying operation to remove any undesiredmoisture accumulated in the fiber glass carbon packing. 1

This cleaning operation can be conveniently done at the end of eachdaily run of the operation.

Such cleaning and drying operation may also be done at the end of eachdaily run without disconnecting the fiber glass filter from thestructure, since at that time it may also be desirable to remove any ofthe accumulated saturated slush from the bottom of the filter. Thus, thewashing of the top filter unit may be part of the general operation forcleaning a filter at the end of a days run.

At that time all of the sludge solution may be removed from the tank andsuitably dried, to eliminate water and moisture content, and to reducethe sludge to cake form, so it may then be broken into small pieces tobe commingled with the ash, and further reduced in size to provide afinal powdered mixture that is to serve as and constitute the fertilizerand the soil nutrient. The material can then be packed in bags forconvenient handling.

Although this last operation has been defined as being something thatcan be done at the end of the days run, provision may be made on themobile apparatus for drying plates which will accept and hold batches ofthe saturated, treated liquid sludge to form cakes which can then beadded to the ash as collected and appropriately packaged for subsequentmore convenient handling. Such drying plates for the sludge wouldconveniently receive their heating energy from suitable blowers fed fromthe gas supply used for the furnace.

The system shown in FIG. 1 and in more detail in FIG. 9, appliesgenerally to both modifications. In FIGS. 2 and 3, the two functionalsequences for the first modification are shown,

where the combustibles are separated from the noncombustibles.

In FIGS. 7 and 8, the two functional sequences are serially related, inthe second modification, by feeding the glass and tins into the samefurnace with the garbage in which the housekeeper mingles them. Themutual element is the screen 38, which transfers the noncombustibles, asdropped from the furnace, into the space 101, there to be lifted byconveyor 102 to the crushing rolls 104, for subsequent delivery to thebaling area. This second modification also permits noncombustibles to bedirectly fed into bin 101 where previously separated by a householder.For that purpose, a door is provided on the rear panel, shown in FIG. 4.Another door is there made available for access to the compartment forthe gas tank 48, shown also in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 5 shows the input chute 22, applicable to both modifications.

FIG. 6 shows the door 74 at the front panel for access to the frontcompartment 72 for storing baled tins from the baling press 118. I

FIGS. 9 and 10 show how the screen 38 carries noncombustibles from underthe furnace into the tin-dumping bin 10! for processing, and FIG. 10shows the functional procedure into the baling press 118. As shownschematically in FIG. 10, the press 118 is shown as comprising aplatform scale 200 resting on the floor 202 in the truck bodycompartment 204. The scale 200 is arranged to be kept normally in theposition shown in the baling region 120, where it will receive and weighan accumulating mass of tin cans, until a predetermined weight isaccumulated, to be then compressed and baled. The platform scale 200 isthen pulled out of normal weighing position, and out of the balingregion during the operation of the press to bale the accumulated tincans.

In order to provide for the operation of shifting the platform scale 20,an air piston 208 is provided to act on a connecting rod 210 suitablycoupled to a guide plate frame 212 secured to the platform scale 200.After removal of the scale, the accumulated tin cans are compressed intoa bale small enough to be conveniently handled. The pressure walls 220,222 and 224 are shown merely schematically, and are shown withappropriate actuating rams to indicate the compression operation.

The baling press is shown here to illustrate the completeness of thesystem for treating and disposing of garbage and rubbish. The completeconstruction and details of operation of the press itself are describedmore fully in a separate application for patent.

As disclosed herein, the problem of disposing of garbage and trash, ishandled by burning the garbage and trash, and entraining the products ofcombustion in a stream of air which is subjected to a cleansingoperation, to remove and recover those products of combustion for use inmaking fertilizer and soil enrichers, and to thereby leave the airstreamclean and avoid polluting the atmosphere.

The treatment of the glass and tins enables those materials to berestored to use in the technical applications, and avoids their loss tothe commercial cycle, and also avoids the waste of space for junk yardsfor such materials, as would be necessary if not reclaimed.

The systems as shown may be variously modified, depending upon itsapplication in stationary equipment, or in mobile equipment, withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in thespecification and drawings, and as set forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A trash and garbage disposal machine, comprising a receptacle forreceiving a batch of garbage;

a furnace having a pit and gas burning means for directing a flame ofgas toward and into said pit, and said furnace having an inlet port fordirecting garbage into said pit and having an outlet port for exitingproducts of combustion;

means for receiving and shredding and comminuting subbatches of saidgarbage;

means for transferring and introducing such shredded and comminutedgarbage into said furnace through said inlet P a source of gaseous fuelfor use in burning such garbage in said furnace;

means communicating with said source of gaseous fuel and connected tosaid gas-burning means for supplying fuel for a flame of said fuel to bedirected onto such garbage in the furnace to burn said garbage;

and means for drawing off the gaseous products of combustion throughsaid outlet port, from said furnace as generated by the burning garbage,and for filtering said products to remove certain air pollutants, saidmeans including a filter bath of alkaline sludge; and airmoving meansfor drawing off the gaseous products of combustion from said furnace andfor directing and forcing said gaseous products through said sludgebath.

2. A mobile trash and garbage disposal machine, as in claim 1, mountedon a truck body to be mobile, and enclosed within a boxlike housinghaving side and end walls and a top closure;

and a door in a wall of said housing, said door being movable to open orto closed position, and serving as an access door to permit garbage tobe directed and delivered into said receptacle from outside the truck.

3. A trash and garbage machine, as in claim 1, comprising an imperforategrate in the pit of said furnace;

means beneath said grate for receiving, collecting and holding residueash from burned garbage;

screening means disposed beneath said ash collecting means to receiveand sift such ash;

a compartment beneath said screening means;

means in said compartment for receiving and holding sifted ash from saidscreening means;

and means for vibrating said screen to aid in sifting said ash, and tomove in combustible solids to a region at the end of said screen formanual or automatic removal.

4. A trash and garbage machine, as in claim 3, in which said screeningmeans includes means for vibrating said screen to sift ashestherethrough and to move incombustible solids to a region at the end ofsaid screening means for removal.

5. A trash and garbage disposal machine, as in claim 1, in

which said filter bath includes a sludge bath of predominantly lime andalkaline ingredients;

a floating cover on said bath, said cover being shaped to contain aplurality of concave pockets in the upper surface thereof, withperforations in said pockets through said cover to provide exit passagesfor air bubbles percolating upward through and from said sludge andfreed from gaseous byproducts absorbed by said sludge;

and weighing means of soil-enrichment and fertilizer material in roughrock form disposed in said pockets to hold said cover at least partiallysubmerged to enable said cover to serve as a barrier against freebubbling exit movement of said airstream with entrained gaseousbyproducts upward through and from said sludge, and serving thereby tohold such gaseous byproducts in temporary restraint to permit chemicalreaction with and absorption by the sludge, and said fertilizer rockmaterial serving by its rough surfaces to break any moisture bubblesentrained in said airstream, and serving thereby to return to said bathany material contained in the bubble films.

6. In the operation of burning refuse, of garbage and trash, the methodof treating the products of combustion, to remove undesirable airpollutants therefrom, which method consists in burning said refuse in aconfined region;

moving and controlling an airstream through said confined region toentrain the products of combustion, in place, as formed; and

passing said airstream with entrained products of combustion through anaqueous alkaline solution, to permit the products of combustion to beabsorbed in said solution and the cleaned airstream carrier to bubbleout to ambient atmosphere,

said refuse is fed into said confined region in a relatively continuoustrain of small batches and in treating said batches of refuse to besubstantially loosely infiltrated with air for optimum combustion.

7. The operation and method, as in claim 6, in which said refuse isfirst comminuted, as by shredding, to infiltrate each batch with air,before it is fed into said confined region to be burned.

8. In the operation of burning refuse, of garbage and trash, the methodof treating the products of combustion, to remove undesirable airpollutants therefrom, which method consists in burning said refuse in aconfined region;

moving and controlling an airstream through said confined region toentrain the products of combustion, in place, as formed; and

passing said airstream with entrained products of combustion through anaqueous alkaline solution, to permit the products of combustion to beabsorbed in said solution and the cleaned airstream carrier to bubbleout to ambient atmosphere said airstream, as it bubbles out through saidaqueous alkaline solution, is caused to pass through a path betweenbarrier rocks having sharp, rough discontinuous edges adequate to reacton and break moisture bubbles entrained in said existing airstream, inorder thereby to prevent the material held in the bubble films frommoving out into the ambient atmosphere, and to cause such material fromthe bubble films to be absorbed in such barrier rocks, or to flow backinto said aqueous solution.

9. The operation and method, as in claim 8, in which said airstream,after being cleared of said moisture bubbles by breaking of saidbubbles, is further filtered before being permitted to enter the ambientatmosphere.

10. The operation and method, as in claim 9, in which said barrier rocksconsist mainly of ingredients, or of chemical compounds of ingredients,having utility as soil nutrients.

1. A trash and garbage disposal machine, comprising a receptacle forreceiving a batch of garbage; a furnace having a pit and gas burningmeans for directing a flame of gas toward and into said pit, and saidfurnace having an inlet port for directing garbage into said pit andhaving an outlet port for exiting products of combustion; means forreceiving and shredding and comminuting subbatches of said garbage;means for transferring and introducing such shredded and comminutedgarbage into said furnace through said inlet port; a source of gaseousfuel for use in burning such garbage in said furnace; meanscommunicating with said source of gaseous fuel and connected to saidgas-burning means for supplying fuel for a flame of said fuel to bedirected onto such garbage in the furnace to burn said garbage; andmeans for drawing off the gaseous products of combustion through saidoutlet port, from said furnace as generated by the burning garbage, andfor filtering said products to remove certain air pollutants, said meansincluding a filter bath of alkaline sludge; and air-moving means fordrawing off the gaseous products of combustion from said furnace and fordirecting and forcing said gaseous products through said sludge bath. 2.A mobile trash and garbage disposal machine, as in claim 1, mounted on atruck body to be mobile, and enclosed within a boxlike housing havingside and end walls and a top closure; and a door in a wall of saidhousing, said door being movable to open or to closed position, andserving as an access door to permit garbage to be directed and deliveredinto said receptacle from outside the truck.
 3. A trash and garbagemachine, as in claim 1, comprising an imperforate grate in the pit ofsaid furnace; means beneath said grate for receiving, collecting andholding residue ash from burned garbage; screening means disposedbeneath said ash collecting means to receive and sift such ash; acompartment beneath said screening means; means in said compartment forreceiving and holding sifted ash from said screening means; and meansfor vibrating said screen to aid in sifting said ash, and to move incombustible solids to a region at the end of said screen for manual orautomatic removal.
 4. A trash and garbage machine, as in claim 3, inwhich said screening means includes means for vibrating said screen tosift ashes therethrough and to move incombustible solids to a region atthe end of said screening means for removal.
 5. A trash and garbagedisposal machine, as in claim 1, in which said filter bath includes asludge bath of predominantly lime and alkaline ingredients; a floatingcover on said bath, said cover being shaped to contain a plurality ofconcave pockets in the upper surface thereof, with perforations in saidpockets through said cover to provide exit passages for air bubblespercolating upward through and from said sludge and freed from gaseousbyproducts absorbed by said sludge; and weighing means ofsoil-enrichment and fertilizer material in rough rock form disposed insaid pockets to hold said cover at least partially submerged to enablesaid cover to serve as a barrier against free bubbling exit movement ofsaid airstream with entrained gaseous byproducts upward through and fromsaid sludge, and serving thereby to hold such gaseous byproducts intemporary restraint to permit chemical reaction with and absorption bythe sludge, and said fertilizer rock material serving by its roughsurfaces to break any moisture bubbles entrained in said airstream, andserving thereby to return to said bath any material contained in thebubble films.
 6. In the operation of burning refuse, of garbage andtrash, the method of treating the products of combustion, to removeundesirable air pollutants therefrom, which method consists in burningsaid refuse in a confined region; moving and controlling an airstreamthrough said confined region to entrain the products of combustion, inplace, as formed; and passing said airstream with entrained products ofcombustion through an aqueous alkaline solution, to permit the productsof combustion to be absorbed in said solution and the cleaned airstreamcarrier to bubble out to ambient atmosphere, said refuse is fed intosaid confined region in a relatively continuous train of small batchesand in treating said batches of refuse to be substantially looselyinfiltrated with air for optimum combustion.
 7. The operation andmethod, as in claim 6, in which said refuse is first comminuted, as byshredding, to infiltrate each batch with air, before it is fed into saidconfined region to be burned.
 8. In the operation of burning refuse, ofgarbage and trash, the method of treating the products of combustion, toremove undesirable air pollutants therefrom, which method consists inburning said refuse in a confined region; moving and controlling anairstream through said confined region to entrain the products ofcombustion, in place, as formed; and passing said airstream withentrained products of combustion through an aqueous alkaline solution,to permit the products of combustion to be absorbed in said solution andthe cleaned airstream carrier to bubble out to ambient atmosphere, saidairstream, as it bubbles out through said aqueous alkaline solution, iscaused to pass through a path between barrier rocks having sharp, roughdiscontinuous edges adequate to react on and break moisture bubblesentrained in said existing airstream, in order thereby to prevent thematerial held in the bubble films from moving out into the ambientatmosphere, and to cause such material from the bubble films to beabsorbed in such barrier rocks, or to flow back into said aqueoussolution.
 9. The operation and method, as in claim 8, in which saidairstream, after being cleared of said moisture bubbles by breaking ofsaid bubbles, is further filtered before being permitted to enter theambient atmosphere.
 10. The operation and method, as in claim 9, inwhich said barrier rocks consist mainly of ingredients, or of chemicalcompounds of ingredients, having utility as soil nutrients.